Mike Rollins
Where to hear and read about Mike Rollins1 episode or test
Mike Rollins appears on App Masters as a guest alongside Flurry's Alex Friedman, speaking about mobile app analytics. The one thing most worth learning from him is to decide what to track before launch and to start collecting data on day one, because any app could take off.
tracking every single step of the way can actually show you some really valuable information
Flurry: The Key Metrics You Should Be Tracking in Your Mobile App
Mike Rollins: the story and the lessons
1Mike Rollins on planning analytics before launch
Rollins says to map what to track before integrating. He tells teams to pick the key steps the way they would pick pages to track on a website. The plan can start from mockups, with tracked points marked on the flow.
This forces the team to name the points that matter most, so it helps product development as well as analytics.
Rollins sees teams ask for event help two days before launch. Some teams ask him how to choose events just two days before App Store submission. That works, but it is rushed and gets less value.
With a roadmap and clear business goals already laid out, he says a full advanced implementation takes about an hour.
Rollins and his co-guest both say to track from day one. Both guests gave this as their top advice: put analytics in the first release and collect data even if you do not look at it for months.
The host said he made this mistake and now revises his app blind. Without history, you cannot find your valuable users later.
2How Mike Rollins reads monetization data
Rollins tracks every step of the purchase flow, not just purchases. He suggests logging an event when the user taps buy, selects the coins or item, starts the in-app purchase and finishes it. Seeing each step separately shows where buyers drop off.
He says this step-by-step tracking surfaced real findings in a live example: "tracking every single step of the way can actually show you some really valuable information".
Rollins warns that any app could be the next surprise hit. He points to Flappy Birds as the kind of success nobody sees coming. Without analytics in place, you are limited in deciding what to build next.
The point is to have a view into the app before the surge arrives, not after.
3Mike Rollins's favorite apps and app ideas
Rollins admires MyFitnessPal for pulling many sources into one dashboard. He names it as a favorite app because it brings external sources into a single view. He says he envies its position.
Rollins takes app ideas from everyday annoyances. His own idea is an app for sharing leftover Big League Chew at baseball games. He describes seven or eight kids each leaving most of a pouch.
Flurry: The Key Metrics You Should Be Tracking in Your Mobile App
Covers which mobile analytics to instrument from the start, how to find your most valuable users with segments, personas and funnels, and how to judge acquisition channels by user quality instead of installs. Worth hearing for concrete limits and benchmarks, such as a 5 minute basic integration and the finding that apps keeping over 50% of users past month four have a longer shelf life.
Rollins says to map what to track before integrating. He tells teams to pick the key steps the way they would pick pages to track on a website. The plan can start from mockups, with tracked points marked on the flow.
This forces the team to name the points that matter most, so it helps product development as well as analytics.
Rollins sees teams ask for event help two days before launch. Some teams ask him how to choose events just two days before App Store submission. That works, but it is rushed and gets less value.
With a roadmap and clear business goals already laid out, he says a full advanced implementation takes about an hour.
Rollins and his co-guest both say to track from day one. Both guests gave this as their top advice: put analytics in the first release and collect data even if you do not look at it for months.
The host said he made this mistake and now revises his app blind. Without history, you cannot find your valuable users later.
Rollins tracks every step of the purchase flow, not just purchases. He suggests logging an event when the user taps buy, selects the coins or item, starts the in-app purchase and finishes it. Seeing each step separately shows where buyers drop off.
He says this step-by-step tracking surfaced real findings in a live example: "tracking every single step of the way can actually show you some really valuable information".
Rollins warns that any app could be the next surprise hit. He points to Flappy Birds as the kind of success nobody sees coming. Without analytics in place, you are limited in deciding what to build next.
The point is to have a view into the app before the surge arrives, not after.
Rollins admires MyFitnessPal for pulling many sources into one dashboard. He names it as a favorite app because it brings external sources into a single view. He says he envies its position.
Rollins takes app ideas from everyday annoyances. His own idea is an app for sharing leftover Big League Chew at baseball games. He describes seven or eight kids each leaving most of a pouch.